In doing this blog, I often research pertinent news stories related to education. One of the most prevalent things I run into is a complaint by a parent or a negative comment about a school from a parent. The story is always one sided because in most cases a school cannot go into details or name names primarily due to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). FERPA is designed to protect the privacy rights of students, however it also keeps schools from telling their side of the story.

As a school administrator I have been on the school side of this issue. It is very frustrating because a parent can basically claim anything they want and the school cannot reveal all of the evidence that would dispute what had been said. I believe that there should be an additional stipulation in FERPA, that states that once a parent goes public with a claim, then the rights given in FERPA are waved and the school can issue a statement with full disclosure on the situation. In my opinion, this would be a good step in the right direction with this issue.

This year my school has had an outbreak of student fights. We have had more fights this year, than we have the past four years combined. It has been frustrating, but we have came up with an option that we think will either eliminate fighting or at the very least cut it down significantly.

One thing I have found out is that more and more parents are encouraging their child to fight, rather than letting the school administration take care of the issues the students are having. Our policy in effect this year was an immediate out-of-school suspension of at least three days. Over the course of the year, we realized that students were not deterred by this consequence.

We decided the consequences needed to be severe for the student, but we also wanted it to discourage parents from pushing their children to fight. We decided that when a fight occurs, the local police would be called and all parties would be taken to the city jail until their parents picked them up. We also decided that the school would file assault charges on all students involved. More than likely they will only get some community service, but court costs could add up. The school will also fine each student a $50 fine for fighting and that student will remain suspended until that fine is paid.

Does your school have a problem with fighting? Do you think this policy will be effective in deterring fighting? What are your overall thoughts in the new policy?

Midwest City Public Schools in Midwest City, Oklahoma conducted a mock DUI accident this past week. The activity was conducted the week before the Midwest City prom and is designed to discourage students attending the prom from drinking and driving. The local police and fire departments, emergency medical services, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, and other agencies staged the mock accident. The goal was to make it as realistic as possible, so that it would resonate with the students. They even went as far as having several classmates being involved in the accident.

Count me in as thinking this is a terrific idea, that many schools and communities should follow suit in conducting. I believe that providing students of a glimpse of what an accident scene would look like would deter a lot of underage drinking and driving. I love the part of the funeral where students filed by a casket lined with mirrors, so they only could see themselves. The truth is that far too many teenagers are killed each year from driving drunk or getting in a vehicle with someone who is drunk. I like the proactive stance this school has taken on this issue and believe it could be effective everywhere.

Does your school conduct anything like this? What do you think about this activity? How effective do you think it would be in your community?

One of the simplest tools that I have found to increase parent communication is the periodic mailing of a post card to parents of my students. When I was a classroom teacher, I tried to do this at least once a week. The message was always short and sweet and never had anything negative. It always had a positive tone and focused on the students' strengths.

I found these simple cards to be very powerful and especially effective on those students with behavioral and/or academic issues. So often, with these students especially we only have negative communication with those parents. Over the years, I had parents and students who received these post cards tell me thank you many times. They communicated that it was nice to hear something positive about their child every once in a while.

Do you use any similar tools to increase parent communication? How have these impacted your classroom? How often do you communicate with your parents?